Michel Desjoyaux

Michel Desjoyeaux: “My life is about imagining solutions and using them”

On the eve of his 60th birthday, two-time Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux is launching a Class40 project with Alexandre Le Gallais, with the aim of designing and building a new boat, the Agité40. Interview.

How did you get into Class40?
It all started with a phone call three years ago from Alexandre Le Gallais. He had bought a Class40, the 115, and wanted electronic pontoons to enable blind people to sail with the association Unadev. We set up a company. He put this on his Mach40 and bought a second boat, the 190, a Mach40.5. One day, he said to me, Mich, you like imagining things and optimizing, but you’ve never sailed a Class40. Wouldn’t you like to design one, build it and sail itThat’s how I ended up with this operation. There’s a beginning to everything! We designed the Agité40 with Olivier Mousselon, Mer Forte’s naval architect. The team did all the structural calculations and deck plans. I did my bit, and she’s been under construction at Mer Agitée since this winter.

When will she be launched?
I’m not sure yet. We should have launched at the start of the season, but we’re still sailing with the 190. We did the Spi Ouest and the Normandy Channel Race where we had a rudder problem. We had to give up but we’d already sailed half the course. We’re going to do the Sables-Horta with the 190, because Alexandre will be returning to solo sailing and doing the Rhum with it next year. We hope to go to the Fastnet with the new boat, but it may not be optimised yet.

I’m not sure I want
to do the Rhum when I’m 61″

What about you? Aren’t you tempted by the Route du Rhum in a Class40?
Yes, with a bit of sugar and lemon, it’s just fine…! Maybe next year, I’ll say, heck, I’d like to go there too, but for the moment, that’s not my objective at all. I might as well go double-handed, do the regattas together, that makes me laugh. But I’m not sure I want to do the Rhum at 61. 

Can you tell us about the Agité40 from a technical point of view?
I hope we’ve come up with a nice design and that the boat performs well. We’ve invested in moulds and studies, so this one has to go quickly and we have to make others. We also have the possibility of making a boat with a larger freeboard to make an IRC, for example. The mould is suitable. The aim is to sail it and do a lot of it. We’ve tried to optimise things that worked for others. I dare to hope that we’re very solid, especially on the hull part, which is a cause of abandonment for quite a few boats.

Have you brought anything specific from your past experience to this model?
The organisation of the cockpit with four winches, two chutes and a central door. We’ve centred and lowered the weights a lot to put more material into the structure. After that, it’s still a Class40 with a fixed keel and two lifting rudders. The measurement system is well thought out – simple to understand and interesting to use.

Who is funding the development of Agité40?
For the moment, it’s mainly Alexandre who has brought in the money. I’m going to bring in a bit too. We’ve already got a few sponsors, but that’s not enough. But when you do everything yourself, it doesn’t cost much.

“I also hope that we’ll have
other Class40s to build”

Does that include the development of Agité40?
The construction, no, because the company in charge of the electronic penons buys it from Mer Agitée, who then builds it. I hope that one day we’ll be able to sponsor each other. On these small projects, you have a lot of multi-sponsoring. We also ran a crowdfunding campaign on Ulule to build up a loyal group of fans and create a local social network. We have 60 or 70 fans from the beginning. Some of them came to the boatyard, and some of them will come to sail and see the races start. The aim of the game was: “You help us get started; we provide you with information that no one else will have. We have a WhatsApp group, where I explain things and tell stories. It’s all about sharing.

What about your other activities, particularly at Mer Agitée and Mer Forte?
A Spanish group bought a large part of Mer Forte three years ago and I now only have 10%. But it was Mer Forte that designed the boat, so they call me up from time to time and it still works. Mer Agitée has done quite a few parts and refits on Vendée Globe boats. We’re going to continue as we’ve got a lot of people in the workshop. I also hope that we’ll have other Class40s to build if this one does well. I’m also working with Michelin on the Wisamo project. This is an automated inflatable sail designed for maritime transport, pleasure craft and workboats. Bringing back sail propulsion is a return to common sense.

We’ve talked a lot about technology and collaboration, but what are you looking for when you go back out to sea with this project?
What hooked me? The challenge of making a new competition object. That’s been my life. People know me as a sportsman, a competitor, but that’s not what I’m about. My life is about imagining solutions, designing them and using them. Competition came later in my career. In a way, I’ve come back to what I love. As I have a bit of baggage, I put my two cents in everywhere. I spend a lot of time making plans and parts. I enjoy that part. After that, going sailing with the boat, trying to get it to work properly – yes, that’s part of what I want to do. When everything gets going, the hoof scratches. The world of landlubbers is going completely mad, and I must say that we’re not bad at sea, and I really enjoy going out there. We had a bit of a rough ride in the Normandy Channel Race, but I wasn’t seasick, we were fine. On the other hand, the boats aren’t very comfortable, so I went out and bought myself a helmet. I think these boats are at the same level of discomfort as the foilers. When it hits, you wonder how it holds up. All your vertebrae go out the window.

“Doing fairly simple things
suits me fine!”

It can’t be easy physically?
It’s fine, because they’re not big boats. The spinnaker is 200 m2, half the size of an IMOCA spinnaker, there are no foils, no centreboard, the gennaker must weigh 35 kg, 45 when wet. We have composite sails that perform very well. Alexandre does the manoeuvres on the foredeck and I look after the cockpit. These are small boats weighing 4.5 tonnes, not monsters. When you want to leave the harbour, you don’t need 50 gourzoutes with a RIB.

Is it a nice change of scale for you?
It’s great to have big boats with big teams. I had a lot of fun doing it for a long time. But the small team aspect is nice. I’m not a solo sailor, but I’m not very expansive either. I’m not one to spit in the soup, but at my age, after what I’ve done, doing fairly simple things suits me fine!

These are the stages of life…
Exactly. I continue to admire what’s being done in the Vendée, the development of the Ultimes, seeing the Ocean Fifty having a blast in the Grand Prix, I watch the Figaro. I’m not nostalgic!

Photo : Jean-Marie Liot

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